Massive eBay fraud exposed

A LONDON couple conned eBay customers around the world out of £300,000. Nicolae Cretanu, 30, and his wife Adriana, 23, swindled thousands of victims into paying for everything from non-existent cars to concert tickets.

They bought a flat and a BMW with the proceeds of Britain's biggest such fraud, which lasted two years. The couple worked for crime bosses in Romania who offered fictitious goods on the internet auction site.

Unsuspecting shoppers bid for the items but were told they had been outbid. The pair would then contact all the bidders by email saying that they had an identical item and offered it for sale. If the victims agreed they would be told to wire their payments to Britain.

Buyers on eBay usually have to pay before being sent their goods. In this case, none of the victims got what they had bid for.

Instead the Cretanus collected the cash using 12 aliases and got an accomplice - Romanian illegal immigrant George Titar, 23 - to pick up the cash from Western Union counters in east London.

The trio took a cut of the profits and sent the rest of the cash to their bosses in Romania. Nicolae Cretanu came to London from Romania on a business visa as a painter and decorator in 2003. The racket was smashed after suspicious Western Union staff contacted police.

This afternoon at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court, Nicolae Cretanu was jailed for three-and-a-half years. Adriana Cretanu and George Titar were sentenced to two-and-a-half years.

DC Andrew Bonafont, who led the investigation, said: "This was a well-planned and sophisticated fraud involving the use of multiple bogus identities and modern telecommunications technology.

'It is on the biggest scale I have ever come across and conned thousands of victims worldwide. This kind of fraud is difficult to track down but due to the assistance of Western Union officers we were able to establish a pattern of collections, which led to the dismantling of the organised criminal network.'

The case was investigated by the Met's Economic and Specialist Crime Unit and the trio were arrested in May. Titar was found to be using three false passports. All three defendants pleaded guilty. The bosses in Romania remain at large and detectives believe there may be thousands more victims who have not come forward.

The issue of fraud on eBay will be tackled on Tonight With Trevor McDonald this evening. The programme will feature an 18-year-old conman who swindled customers out of £45,000.

Philip Shortman, of south Wales, was jailed for a year for his crimes which funded a lavish lifestyle including holidays to more than 20 countries.

Tonight he claims to have ended his criminal career and says his new ambition is to turn from poacher to gamekeeper by offering his services to eBay as an adviser on security.

Shortman tells Tonight: 'Fingers crossed, that somebody like maybe Microsoft or eBay or somebody big out there will get in touch with me. I've (turned over) a new leaf and I want to just prove myself and I want to show my community I'm changed, that it's not about the money any more.' He adds: 'I'd do it definitely. It's easy, I can tell if an auction is a scam, it's just everything about it, I can see a scam from miles away.'

Shortman claims that it was easy to carry out his fraud, and criticises security on the eBay site. The programme shows how he operated his fraud from his bedroom at his parents' house when he was 17, evading capture over 13 months, despite asking his victims to pay funds into a bank account held in his name or send cheques to his home address.

Dc Steve Thomas, who investigated the case, recommended that anyone who was conned on the site should contact police.